Pasta Ciotti Recipe

I have had a few inquiries to my recipe that I posted for the Italian pastry known as Pasta Ciotti. Pasta Ciotti literally means little custard tarts. They are my favorite Italian pastry and I am equally fond of both the chocolate and the vanilla filled varieties. It is a rather lengthy recipe so for editing purposes here is the link to the recipe I found through google that I have used with great results. http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/recipes.recipeListing/filter/dianas/recipeID/4405/Recipe.cfm

Through much trial and error, I would like to share the following tips. DO use unbleached flour for the dough recipe. My first go round, I only had all purpose flour in the pantry and didn't think it would make any difference...it does. The first batch had a strong flour taste, but since using the unbleached flour that has not been a problem.
I remember the pastries from back home having a slight taste of lemon so I add about 3/4's of a cap full of lemon flavoring to the dough recipe...perfection!
I do not own tart tins so I use a standard muffin tin. I spray the pan well with Pam. I did go at the recipe the first few times, rolling out the dough and using the biscuit cutter but find that I can do it much better by just grabbing up a small hand full of dough in to my hands, rolling it into a ball and then using my fingers to mold the dough to the sides of the muffin pan. Unfortunately, I have also found that this doesn't work well if you prefer to maintain long nails...sorry. For the tops...I do the same...just make certain to keep a bowl of flour handy to rub your hands in for when the dough starts to become sticky. I slightly flatten the dough in my palms...place on top of the filled tarts and gently push the dough together along the sides to seal.
For my oven...12 minutes is the perfect amount of baking time. I shut off the heat and allow the tarts to remain in the oven one additional minute. I then flip the tarts out on to a large pizza pan and usually they all pop out with no difficulty. I flip them back over and while they are still warm, sprinkle them with a generous amount of confectionery sugar. Once completely cooled, I place them in a sealed container and keep refrigerated.
Do let me know if you try the recipe and what you think of them. I am planning on preparing both the vanilla and the chocolate ones for my girlfriends next month when I host our monthly canasta game.
Enjoy and until next time...create something of beauty...